Top university officials hope to snuff smoking over two- to three-year period

Chelsea Linman, right, and El Lorenz, back left, are seen smoking outside Norlin Library on the University of Colorado campus on Nov. 14, 2012. CU officials are considering banning all smoking on campus. (Cliff Grassmick / Camera file photo)

The University of Colorado might ban smoking anywhere on the campus.

CU's student government gave initial support to a resolution Thursday night calling for the Boulder campus to become a completely tobacco-free zone, and top university officials plan to ask the Chancellor's Executive Committee next week to ban smoking on the campus.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Deb Coffin told the student government legislative council Thursday, before the vote on the resolution, that she and Assistant Vice Chancellor Donald Misch plan to ask the chancellor to create a task force in the spring to move the campus toward being smoke-free.

They said they envision a "soft transition" over a two- to three-year period that would include lots of help with smoking cessation for university employees and students.

They might allow designated smoking areas for a semester or a year as part of that transition, but the goal is to have no smoking on campus, Coffin said.

The $48,000 cost of the program would be partly covered by a grant from Boulder County Public Health.

The student resolution, authored by representative-at-large Zeke Johnson and CU Student Government Director of Health and Safety Christopher Schaefbauer, calls for the campus to be tobacco-free, meaning chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco would also be banned. The resolution calls for a two-year implementation period for the ban.

Schaefbauer said the resolution was a way for students to make their position known as the university administration develops its policies and a way for students to communicate to smokers that their behavior affects others.

"When you're walking behind a group of smokers, there's not really anything you can do," he said. "There's no strong statement you can make. We want to empower students to advocate for their own health."

CU Board of Regents Chairman Michael Carrigan testified before the student government about the losses his family has suffered due to tobacco-related illnesses.

He referred to evolving attitudes about tobacco and how shocking it seems now that people used to smoke on airplanes.

"I want to make it so that when you have gray hair like me, it seems just as ridiculous that they allowed smoking on campus," Carrigan said.

Current university policy bans smoking in all buildings but allows smoking outside. Officials estimate that 6 percent of CU students are daily smokers.

The resolution faced some opposition from the legislative council because the measure was not widely publicized before Thursday's meeting. They said they needed more time to hear from the student population.

A motion to table the resolution for two weeks was defeated, and the resolution passed 10-5, with three abstentions.

The resolution still requires final approval in a second reading next week.